There is no end to American President Donald Trump shaming the United States.
With just a month left of his disgraceful presidency, Trump is using his pardons power to let criminals off the hook. On Tuesday, he pardoned 20 of them, four of whom were Blackwater mercenaries who massacred Iraqi civilians. They were convicted in 2007.
Of the four hired to kill on behalf of the state, Nicholas Slatten was serving a life sentence for taking the lives of 17 Iraqi civilians, two of whom were boys of only 9 and 11. Another two victims were women. Mercenaries have no mercy.
Now clemency-happy Trump is saying "thank you, Slatten, for the massacre". With Trump, the pardon almost always shows up a personal tie to the criminal or someone who furthered his political aims, which The New York Times quotes Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith as saying. Plus, this isn't the first time he is pardoning killers of civilians on foreign soil. In November last year, Trump pardoned two American servicemen for killing Afghan civilians just before they went on trial.
To Trump and many US presidents before him, American servicemen and mercenaries cannot be guilty of war crimes. The International Criminal Court is only for trying and sentencing Africans, Asians and Latin Americans.
Small wonder, Trump sanctioned several senior officials of the International Criminal Court when it attempted to investigate American servicemen and civilians in Afghanistan. And Trump's clemency isn't going to end here.
In the four weeks that remain before President-elect Joe Biden takes over on Jan 20, Trump is up to some really bad things, says the NYT. Here is how bad it gets.
Trump is considering pardoning his family in what is described as pre-emptive pardons. A pre-emptive pardon is the exercise of presidential clemency before any charges are named. Very unusual, but with Trump everything is turned on its head.
The US needs reform before another Trump of a president brings similar shame to America. The US must not allow itself to fail like this. Nations which are serious about governance — and countries that live by the rule of law — will learn not to repeat past mistakes.
Trump's America has had more than its fair share of blunders. The US needs to do three things. One, Trump must be called to account. The question is, is there a legal will? Two, checks and balances must be put in place to stop another president from being a Trump. Three, the US must learn how to be a responsible member of the international community.
Here, it must give justice its fair run. It can begin by trying American servicemen who have committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere else they have been up to mischief. There cannot be one rule for the US and another for the rest of the world.
It must also go a step further. The US must abandon any design of regime change. Not every country can be America. Nor should it be. The US has in the past tried to make America out of every country and failed. It must not try again.
To do so and expect a different result will be insane. No president of the US should be allowed to deform America thus. Or the world.